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41
www.fmc.viamedica.pl

REVIEW

Katarzyna Jóskowska, Zenon Grabarczyk

Department of Applied Linguistics, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, Poland

Greek and Latin in medical terminology

ABSTRACT

This paper offers an overview of the status quo of medical terminology. Most terms used in biology and

medicine are derived from classical languages, i.e. Latin and Greek. In previous years, Latin was listed as

a subject offered in the syllabus of medical studies. Now, things have altered. It is obvious however, that

a basic understanding of Latin and Greek etymology increases the product ivity of learning and comfort ğğthe student to thoroughly analyse a given medical term in terms of its c omponent parts. This is probably

the greatest aid in learning to understand the vocabulary of medicine. The main part of this study consists

Key words: Latin, Greek, language of medicine, medical terminology

Folia Medica Copernicana 2013; 1 (2): 41-52

Introduction

Over the centuries, the development of medical termi- nology has been based on the process of creating parallel

national and international terms, known all over the world and well-defined. In the field of medical, biological and

pharmaceutical sciences, such a reliable tool of commu- nication was Latin and Greek. In recent years, gradually but consistently Latin has been replaced by the Polish language, which is becoming evident in the diagnoses of diseases. Simultaneously, another trend also pre- vails. In fact, English has already permeated and partially replaced even Polish medical language. This state of affairs is somewhat surprising, since basic knowledge of

Latin names of diseases and drugs enables international communication, which seems crucial at a time when more

and more people enjoy travelling abroad. Medical Latin still enables, or at least facilitates, the use of multilingual specialist literature. It is in- dispensable in communication with scientists from other countries. It enables us to precisely define and differentiate between concepts 1 . The benefits flowing from knowledge of Latin are so significant that it seems impossible to imagine a physician, pharmacist or physiotherapist without even elementary knowledge

of this language. Nonetheless, fluent command of the vocabulary requires a lot of effort. Learning numerous

names and terms without philological preparation is time-consuming; moreover, it usually leads to estab- lishing a mechanical bond between specific terms and a set of letters or syllables. This method of acquiring language competence is not sufficient or satisfactory, because vocabulary acquired in such a way is easily forgotten. It is even easier to twist the terms. The aim of the present paper is to offer a remedy for the difficulties mentioned before, or at least, to familia- rise the reader with medical vocabulary. Terminology,

which is gathered in transparent tables (Tab. 1-6), is intended to unveil the structure of the Latin terms as well

as to trace shades of the contents suggested by prefixes and suffixes. Understanding of the etymological and morphological mechanisms is a simple way to acquire and remember the most curious phrases. It is worth mentioning that, admittedly, juxtapositions similar to those offered in my paper have appeared previously. However, it seems advisable to present them once again in a more sophisticated form, especially at a time when educational standards for the medical faculty do not include teaching Latin. Today, the dominant language of science is English. All the most influential medical journals are written in

English, and English has become the language of international conferences. We have entered the era of

medical English, which resembles the era of medical

Latin in that, once again, physicians have chosen

a single language for international communication. Note, however, that English is rooted in the classical languages. It is estimated that about 90% of the med-

Corresponding author:

Katarzyna Jóskowska

Katedra Lingwistyki Stosowanej

Collegium Medicum

E-mail: kasiajoskowska@wp.pl

Tel. +48 52 585 34 46

Folia Medica Copernicana 2013;

Volume 1, Number 2, 41-52

Copyright © 2013 Via Medica

ISSN 2300-5432

1 A striking advantage of Latin is its brevity, clarity and precision, esp ecially compared to its Polish counterparts, e.g. homoeopathia instead of "leczenie maymi dawkami rodków, które w wikszych dawkach wywouj da n chorob" or hyperphoria instead of "zez utajony ze skonnoci do odchylenia osi oka k u górze". 42

FOLIA MEDICA COPERNICANA 2013, vol. 1, no. 2

www.fmc.viamedica.pl ical vocabulary in English is of Greek or Latin origin. One cannot deny the huge impact of ancient Greek on medical terminology.

It may be concluded that the modern language

of medicine basically represents the ancient Greek language transcribed into Latin. English equivalents gathered in the tables and sounding almost identical to the original term show that removing Latin from

Table 1. Greek prefixes

PrefixMeaning ExamplesMeaning of examples

LatinEnglishIn EnglishIn Polish

a-, an-without, not an-aemiaan-aemialack of blood

Gr. (Greek) an + haima (blood)

niedokrwisto, anemia an-aesthesia (an-aesthesis) an-aesthesialoss of bodily sensation

Gr. an + aisthesis (sensation)

brak czucia, anestezja an-orexiaan-orexialoss of appetite

Gr. an + oreksis (appetite)

brak apetytu, anoreksja an-uriaan-uriathe absence of urine

Gr. an + uron (urine)

bezmocz ana-, an-up, upward, again ana-lysisana-lysisseparating into constituents in order to study

Gr. ana + luo (to loosen)

rozbiór, rozoenie na czynniki, analiza ana-mnesisana-mnesisthe ability to recall past events; recollection

Gr. ana + mimnesko (call to mind)

przypomnienie, wywiad lekarski, anamneza ana-tomiaana-tomyart of studying the different parts of any organised body

Gr. ana + temno (to cut, to hew)

rozbiór, anatomia anti-against, opposed to anti-dotumanti-doteremedy to counteract a poison

Gr. anti + didomi (to give)

odtrutka, antidotum anti-pyreticumanti-pyreticfever-reducing

Gr. anti + pyretos (fever)

przeciw-gorczkowy anti-septicumanti-septiccapable of preventing microbial infection

Gr. anti + septikos (characterized by putridity)

zapobiegajcy zakaeniu, antyseptyczny anti-acidumant-acidagent reducing acidity

L. (Latin) anti + acidum (acid)

przeciw nadkwasocie apo-off, away from apo-physisapo-physisoutgrowth

Gr. apo + fyo (to grow, produce)

odrostek, wyrostek apo-plexiaapo-plexyloss of consciousness

Gr. apo + plesso (to strike)

udar mózgu, apopleksja cata- downcata-meniacata-meniafemale period, menstrual discharge

Gr. cata + men (month)

miesiczka, menstruacja cata-toniacata-toniaa severe psychiatric condition, stupor

Gr. cata + tonos (muscle tension)

katatonia, osupienie cata-rrhuscata-rrhinflammation of the mucous membranes

Gr. cata + rheo (to flow)

katar dia- through, across dia-betesdia-betesgroup of metabolic diseases

Gr. dia + baino (to pass through)

cukrzyca dia-gnosisdia-gnosisidentification of the nature and cause of an illness

Gr. dia + gignosko (to learn)

rozpoznanie choroby, diagnoza dia-rrhoeadia-rrhoeaflow through

Gr. dia + rheo (to flow)

biegunka dia-thermiadia-thermylocal heating of the body tissues with an electric current

Gr. dia + therme (heat)

przegrzewanie tkanek, diatermia the curriculum was not the right decision. Even poor knowledge of a foreign language (English or a Romance language, and even a Germanic language) is enough to read a diagnosis written abroad, on the understanding that the reader has at least a basic knowledge of Latin 2

This review may be helpful in this respect and it

might form the basis for learning medical terminology in other languages, especially in English. 2 It is worth noting that even in countries in which there is an adopted h abit of writing diagnoses in the national language, th e basis of medical terminology is Greek /

Latin vocabulary: e.g. Latin myocarditis, English myocarditis, German Myokarditis, French myocardite, Spanish miocarditis, Italian miocardite; Latin strabismus, English

strabismus, Italian strabismo, French strabisme, Spanish estrabismo. 43
Katarzyna Jóskowska, Zenon Grabarczyk, Greek and Latin in medical terminology www.fmc.viamedica.pl PrefixMeaning ExamplesMeaning of examples

LatinEnglishIn EnglishIn Polish

dys-bad, painful, difficult dys-enteriadys-enterydisease characterised by inflammation of the intestines

Gr. dys + entera (bowels)

czerwonka, dyzenteria dys-pepsiadys-pepsiadisorder of digestion

Gr. dys + pepsis (digestion)

zaburzenie trawienia, dyspepsja dys-pnoedys-pnoeadifficult respiration

Gr. dys + pnoe (breeze)

zaburzenie oddychania, duszność dys-trophiadys-trophyfaulty or inadequate nutrition or development

Gr. dys + trophe (food, nourishment)

zaburzenie odżywiania, dystrofia ec-, ex-out, out of, outside ec-zemaec-zemaacute or chronic inflammation of the skin

Gr. ek + zema (to boil, to seethe)

wyprysk, egzema ex-ophthalmusex-ophthalmosabnormal protrusion of the eyeball

Gr. ex + opthalmos (eye)

wytrzeszcz ex-ostosisex-ostosisa benign bony growth

Gr. ex + osteon (bone)

wyrośl kostna en-, em-in, inside, within en-cephalonen-cephalonbrain

Gr. en + kephale (head)

mózgowie en-demia (subst.) en-demic (adj)native to a particular area

Gr. en + demos (people)

choroba występująca na danym obszarze, endemia em-bolusem-bolusan obstruction causing an embolism: a blood clot

Gr. em + bolos (throw)

zator, czop zatorowy, embolia em-bryoem-bryofertilised egg before developing into a foetus

Gr. em + bruo (to grow)

zarodek, embrion hyper-over, above hyper-aemiahyper-aemiaexcess of blood in a body part

Gr. hyper + haima (blood)

przekrwienie hyper- -thyr(e)osis hyper- -thyroidism excessive production of hormones by the thyroid

Gr. hyper + thyreos (kind of shield)

nadczynność tarczycy hyper-toniahyper-toniaincreased rigidity, tension, and spasticity of the muscles

Gr. hyper + tonos (tension); cf hypo-tonia (an

abnormal loss of muscle tone) nadmierne napięcie, nadciśnienie, hipertonia hyper-thermiahyper-thermiaan abnormally high body temperature

Gr. hyper + therme (heat)

gorączka, przegrzanie hypo-under, below hypo- -chondriasis hypo-chondriaan abnormally heightened and unreasonable fear of disease

Gr. hypo + chondros (cartilage)

chorobliwy niepokój o własne zdrowie, hipochondria hypo-dermishypo-dermisa layer of cells beneath the epidermis in some plants

Gr. hypo + derma (skin)

tkanka podskórna hypo- -glycaemia hypo- -glyc-aemia low level of blood glucose

Gr. hypo + glukus (sweet) + haima (blood);

cf hyper-glyc-aemia (an abnormally high level of glucose in the blood) niedocukrzenie krwi, hipoglikemia hypo-thermiahypo-thermiaabnormally low body temperature

Gr. hypo + therme (heat)

obniżona temperatura ciała, hipotermia meta-among, between, after, later, along with meta-bolismusmeta-bolismcomplete set of chemical reactions

Gr. meta + bolos (throw)

przemiana materii, metabolizm meta- -morphosis meta- -morphosis transformation

Gr. meta + morphe (form)

przeobrażenie, metamorfoza meta-stasismeta-stasisthe transference of a bodily function or disease to another part of the body

Gr. meta + stasis (state of standing)

przerzut, wtórne ognisko nowotworowe, metastaza met- -encephalon met- -encephalon the anterior section of the hindbrain

Gr. met + encephalon (brain)

tyłomózgowie wtórne

Table 1. Greek prefixes (cont. tab.)

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